


when will (life) come for me

by AlmondRose



Category: Batman (Comics), Green Arrow (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Afterlife, Death, Fix-It of Sorts, GAY RIGHTS!, M/M, heroes in crisis spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-17 21:28:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16104146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmondRose/pseuds/AlmondRose
Summary: Roy is dead, which leads for reunions--expected & unexpected--and revelations.





	when will (life) come for me

**Author's Note:**

> -i know very little about brave bow and i was just guessing for his characterization  
> -hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn heroes in crisis. bad. this is why i dont give my money 2 comics

Roy falls--falls into death, and even while dead, he knows that he’s dead--abruptly, and painfully. The second he’s gone, the pain drops, and everything’s black, and there’s nothing. 

 

Suddenly, there is something, and that something is the reservation. Roy’s standing, barefoot, his feet tickling the grass, and a breeze blows by, and like how you know you’re dreaming, Roy knows this isn’t real. 

 

He breathes in, and it feels just like the rez, same smell and everything, then he closes his eyes and when he opens them, he’s in the Queen mansion. 

 

It’s stark and empty and there are still shapes around the counter, unmoving like statues. Ollie’s head is in his hands, and Dinah has an arm around Emi, and Emi has tears running down her face. Roy feels like he’s standing inside a photograph. He walks over to them and touches Emi’s cheek; she’s like ice. 

 

_ They must be mourning,  _ he thinks, sadly. They must be mourning. 

 

When Roy blinks again, he’s in a dirty apartment he’s never seen before, and he hears cars and sirens in the distance. There’s a broken table on the floor next to him, and a dog curled up next to it, protectively. When Roy takes a step forward, the dog perks up and looks at him. It doesn’t bark, though, just stares, and Roy takes a cautious couple of steps around it and peers around the table. 

 

There’s a little dark-haired boy, with a red hoodie and tattered shorts, curled up over scabbed knees. The boy’s shoulders are shaking, and Roy wonders why a boy so little is dead. 

 

He kneels down, and reaches out. When his hand touches the boy’s shoulder, he turns and looks at Roy, and when their eyes meet, the scene changes. 

 

Roy’s on top of a roof. It’s night and the air is smoggy and thick, and cars race on the ground below him. Above, the batsignal shines dully. 

 

On the roof next to him, there’s a boy, but this boy Roy recognizes. 

 

“Jesus christ, Harper,” he says, his voice higher and cracky but still familiar. He crosses his arms across his chest. “Can’t you do one thing right and  _ stay alive?”  _

 

“Sorry, Jaybird, but sometimes it doesn’t work out like that,” Roy says, and he crosses his arms, too. Robin tilts his head up. Seeing the costume on him is--unnerving. 

 

“You think I don’t  _ know  _ that?” he says. They stare at each other for a few seconds, Roy unused to looking down at Jason. 

 

Robin breaks the stare first. 

 

“I was supposed to protect you,” he mumbles, looking down at the ground, and Roy says, “We were supposed to protect each other.”

 

“Look where that got us,” Robin says, his laugh dry and humorless and Roy opens his mouth to respond but then he’s back at the reservation, and there’s someone across the way, standing and watching. 

 

Roy’s too far to see but he knows who it is, and he stumbles over himself running to his father. 

 

His father’s arms are strong and Roy buries his face in his shoulder, inhales the familiar scent. 

 

“You got a haircut,” Brave Bow says, and Roy laughs, dimly aware of tears. 

 

“Yeah,” he says. “You seem the same as ever, old man.”

 

“Death can’t lay a finger on me,” Roy’s father says, and Roy laughs again. 

 

“Never thought it could,” he says, and then his father’s grip around him loosens and falls and Roy turns. 

 

He’s in a stark, clean room. A woman stands with her back to him, her long dark hair falling down her back. She’s still, like Ollie and Dinah and Emi. 

 

Roy walks around her to see her face. 

 

It’s Jade, and her arms are holding a little girl, around two or three. The girl has dark hair and dark eyes and freckles everywhere, and she has a big smile. 

 

The tears leftover from seeing his father start to fall more freely. He drinks in her face, her eyes.

 

Roy has seen a great many beautiful things in his life. The reservation, early in the morning. The view from the roofs of Star City. Jason’s eyes, his hair, the line of his jawbone. Space, any of the times he’s gone up there. Kori’s hair and Jade’s smile.  

 

But this--this little girl--she’s the most beautiful thing Roy has ever seen. He stares at her, and he never knew he had a daughter, but she can’t be anyone else. He wishes he knew her name more than he wishes for anything, even to be alive again. 

 

He reaches out, afraid to touch, and then he hears a noise that’s like--it’s indescribable, but it’s the noise the Bats make when they  _ aren’t  _ making any noise. He turns, and he’s back on the roof with Robin. 

 

“Is she--” Roy starts, and Robin nods. 

 

“She’s your kid, yeah,” he says. 

 

“What’s her name?” Roy asks, and Robin says, “I don’t know.”

 

“Are you always on this roof?” Roy asks, and Robin says, “Sometimes I’m in Ethiopia.”

 

The nonchalant way Robin says it makes Roy’s heart break and he says, “Are you all alone?”

 

“You’re here, now,” Robin says and Roy thinks that if Jason is here  _ and  _ alive, than the other once-dead Bats--isn’t that, like, all of them?--must be here too. He doesn’t know why he’d be alone. Roy doesn’t want Jason to be alone. 

 

“Yeah,” he says. “I’m here.”

 

“Not for long,” Robin says, sadly, and Roy says, “What do you mean?”

 

And then--like falling asleep, like falling into death--Roy is falling. 

  
  
  
  


Roy’s body is stiff and painful and he breathes. 

 

He breathes and it feels  _ good  _ and he opens his eyes and sits up in the same motion, ignoring the pain and almost bumping into the man crouched over him. 

 

“Jesus christ,” the other man says. “Warn a guy, would you?”

 

And he sounds casual, but--Roy knows Jason Todd too much for that to fool him. 

 

“Sorry, Jaybird,” he says. “I’m about to sit up, even though I’ve been  _ dead.  _ What happened to that, by the way?”

 

“If you thought I would let you stay dead, you’ve got another thing coming for you,” Jason says, his voice hard and soft at the same time. 

 

“You brought me back to life?” Roy asks, surprised and not surprised at the same time. Jason looks uncomfortable and pleased simultaneously and a warm rush of emotion rises in Roy’s chest. 

 

“I would say don’t take it personally, but I’ve never brought anyone back to life before and I don’t feel like doing it again,” Jason says. “So don’t die again, Harper.”

 

“I won’t,” Roy says, knowing full well he can’t promise any such thing. Jason gives him a hint of a smile and leans in; their mouths meet. Roy feels like he’s been starving for this, and he puts his hands everywhere he can--Jason’s hair, the back of his neck, his cheeks, his shoulders, his chest. 

 

When they finally break apart--after too long and not long enough--Roy looks around. They’re in a narrow space that reminds Roy of the back of a plane. 

 

“Where are we?” he asks, and Jason says, “We’re flying over the Atlantic Ocean right now. Donna and Biz are in the cockpit.”

 

“Nice,” Roy says, and he drags Jason back down. 

 

When he releases him, Jason whispers, “I love you, Roy Harper.”

 

“I love you too, Jason Todd,” Roy says. Then he remembers and he says, “Wait, Jaybird, I saw something, when I was dead. I have--me and Jade have a daughter.”

 

Jason’s face twists and then settles, he says, “We’ll have to find her, then.” 

 

Roy is so grateful for him. 

 

“Thank you,” he says, and Jason gives him a smile full of firm resolve. Roy likes that smile.

 

“Did you see anything else?” Jason asks, and Roy wonders how much Jason remembers from his own death, what he saw. 

 

“My father,” he says. “And you.”

 

Jason gives him a weird face and Roy gives him his best shit-eating grin. Jason sighs and drops his head, their foreheads touching. Jason exhales into the space between them. 

 

“You’re going to be the death of me,” he says, and Roy laughs quietly. 

 

“I think we’ll be the death of each other,” he says, honestly, and he knows that if Jason ever died again he would bring him back in a heartbeat.

 

He doesn’t think he’ll tell Jason about how lonely the dead Robin version of him was, or how happy he was to have Roy with him. He doesn’t tell Jason about the guilt he thinks he’ll feel about leaving him behind, but it’s okay. 

 

Jason lunges forward, standing up. “I’m gonna--I gotta tell Donna that you’re alive, and tell Biz to try and--find Cheshire, I guess--”

 

Roy grabs his hand. 

 

“Hey Jay? Thank you,” he says, and Jason softens, smiles, says, “I would do it again.” 

 

“I know you would,” he says, softly, and Jason smiles again and then goes to the cockpit, and Roy leans back on his hands and grins. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! comments & kudos always welcome!


End file.
